sent from: London, UK. destination: Los Angeles, California, USA

Despite the confusion over the mismatch of what the presenter was saying and what videos were shown, they did eventually announce the winner for “Outstanding FX + Simulation in a Live-Action Feature Motion Picture“, and much to our delight it was another win for Gravity, and I got to go up and have my moment on stage.
Though the Awards themselves were pretty shambolic, I felt buoyed by the win and general goodwill of all present. Gravity won in 7 of the 8 categories in which it was nominated. It went on to win the VFX BAFTA, and it’s a safe bet to win the Oscar (which I keep going to great lengths to explain that in these latter two I do not get anything – the BAFTA/Oscar glory goes to those named and not to the company or the team). And though I’m delighted to have been recognised, I’ve been doing this long enough to have been on many films nominated that didn’t win and one already that did (Pirates of the Caribbean 2) to divorce my day-to-day engagement of working on a film from any hope of future recognition or awards.
“But didn’t you know you were working on something groundbreaking?” people have asked me. I knew it was special, I hoped my peers would recognise it, but the groundswell of critical and commercial consensus that gathered around Gravity is something no one could have predicted, planned for or expected. I put the same effort day-to-day into it as I’ve done on every movie in my career – you can’t look to some future pat-on-the-back to make everyday worth it. And something like this comes around only once in a career, if you’re lucky. I give thanks for the team I get to work with and my good fortune, and get back to work.

I also learned a few things about Awards Show Etiquette. 

For instance, I learned that when you go on stage to accept an award, it’s important to stand on the correct side of the person on the podium, if you want to show up in the photos.

I also learned that it’s important to care for ones skin in the days leading up the event.

Lastly, I found out that it’s important to keep an eye on your cummerbund, lest you lose it and never discover that fact until the next morning…